Ripple (XRP) Price: Token Surges 11% in a Week as Long-Term Holders Accumulate

TLDR

• XRP surged 11% over the past week to $1.53, overtaking BNB to reclaim 4th place by market cap at $93.4 billion.
• Open interest on Binance futures rose 59% since October 2025 to 353 million XRP, showing new leverage being added into the rally.
• Long-term holders accumulated over 351 million XRP in a single day on March 1, the strongest inflow in months.
• XRP ETFs recorded $28 million in outflows last week, with institutional demand pulling back while retail interest grows.
• The $1.55 resistance zone remains a key hurdle, with a bearish rejection candle raising the odds of a pullback.

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XRP has had a strong week, climbing 11% to trade around $1.53 as of March 17, 2026. The move pushed the token past BNB, returning it to the number four spot by market capitalization at $93.4 billion.

XRP Price

Trading volume jumped 125% to $3.22 billion as the price broke through resistance near $1.40. That level had been a ceiling for weeks, so the breakout drew attention from traders across the market.

The rally comes in a tense macroeconomic environment. Brent crude oil remains elevated near $100 a barrel due to ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz linked to the Iran conflict, now in its third week.

Holders Accumulate as Macro Uncertainty Grows

Despite the oil shock and fears around global growth, XRP’s long-term holders have been buying more, not less.

Glassnode data shows a spike of over 351 million XRP accumulated by long-term holders on March 1, one day after the Iran conflict began. That was the strongest single-day accumulation in months.

Source; Glassnode

The broader trend has stayed positive since then, with sustained net buying pushing the metric to its highest monthly level since May 2025. This type of behavior in on-chain data often appears during recovery phases.

Retail interest is also recovering. XRP futures open interest climbed to $2.66 billion on Monday, up from $2.56 billion the day before. The Fear & Greed Index also moved up to 23, from 8 the prior week, though it remains in extreme fear territory.

Institutional Demand and Ripple Criticism

Institutional investors have pulled back. XRP investment products saw $76 million in outflows last week, with ETFs accounting for $28 million of that. Month-to-date outflows total $133 million, bringing assets under management down to $2.4 billion.

Ripple is also facing criticism over its token sales strategy. Commentators have argued the company sells premined XRP to retail investors while using the proceeds to fund acquisitions, non-XRP products, and stock buybacks for private shareholders.

Ripple CTO David Schwartz reportedly defended the practice, but critics say the setup benefits Ripple Labs equity holders more than XRP holders.

On the technical side, XRP faces a bearish rejection near its 50-day EMA at $1.55. The token remains below both its 50-day and 200-day EMAs. A sustained close above $1.60 would be needed to shift the broader trend.

Binance open interest stood at 353.49 million XRP on March 17, approaching but still below the pre-crash peak of 400 million seen in September 2025.

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